


Comedy Tonight

by knightofsuperior



Category: Trails in the Sky, 英雄伝説VI 空の軌跡 | The Legend of Heroes: Sora no Kiseki (Video Games)
Genre: Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-07 02:14:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15898857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knightofsuperior/pseuds/knightofsuperior
Summary: SPOILER WARNING: TAKES PLACE AFTER TRAILS IN THE SKY SECOND CHAPTER BUT BEFORE TRAILS IN THE SKY THE THIRD-----------------Olivier has a play making the rounds throughout Zemuria (for better or for worse), and the gang decides to take a night out to the theater and see it.It's certainly something.[ON HIATUS]





	1. Something Familiar

"What fresh hell is this?” 

“What do you mean, Mueller?” Prince Olivert raised an eyebrow as a stack of papers was slammed down onto his desk. “Did Osborne ask for another budget increase? If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times-”

“You know damn well what it is, Olivert.” Mueller pointed a finger at a small line of text in the center of the top paper, tapping it. 

“ **_Skyward Trajectory Towards the Empty Miracle._ ** Seems like an elegant title,” Olivert replied, “But whatever for?” 

“Don’t bullshit me.” Mueller moved his finger towards a second line on the page, tapping it intensely. “ _ A multi-chapter play by  _ **_Olivier Lenheim_ ** .” He leaned in close, speaking through gritted teeth. “The rumor mill has it that this script made its way into the hands of the Liberl News, and spread from there throughout the continent thanks to an accidental printing. Lord knows who made that mistake.”

* * *

“Dorothy.”

“Yeah, Nial?”

“Did you remember to put in the right photo for today’s issue?”

“Um...yeah, definitely!”

“Then explain to me how the front page is just a picture of a cat from the Zeiss Central Factory.”

“...Antoine is adorable, and you cannot deny this.”

**_“Sweet Aidios-”_ **

* * *

“Well, it’s not my fault that great art is appreciated in its time. That is simply the will of the people,” Olivert shrugged.

“You know that we’re not supposed to tell anyone who doesn’t need to know what happened. Yet, somehow, this has been making the rounds throughout Liberl and Erebonia-I’ve even heard of productions being planned in damned Crossbell!”

“Really?” Olivert beamed. “I’ll have to find out when; I’m sure we can get affordable train tickets-”

“No need.” Mueller stomped back towards the door, leaning on the doorframe with a sigh. “It appears that there’s a show happening at Jenis Academy in one week’s time, and Princess Klaudia of Liberl has…” He grumbled. “...cordially invited you, along with myself, to the premiere.”

“Oh, how lovely!” Olivert clapped his hands together. “It’s been so long since our last meeting; perhaps she will have invited-”

“Olivert. Focus.” Mueller’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve been too busy to read this damn thing in full, so I’m going to ask this now, and you’d better tell me the truth: is there anything in here that identifies or implicates any of the participants in the Aureole Incident directly?”

“Absolutely not,” Olivert insisted. “It’s entirely fictionalized, with totally different names and no mention of the Organization as it is. I simply...took some creative liberties to make a thrilling, humorous, and heartwarming tale from our adventures. Besides,” he added, “It’s not like we’re the first to make fictional tales about the past few months, let alone the past year.”

Mueller frowned. He wasn’t wrong-plenty of craven “artists” had attempted to retell the events of the Liberl Invasion (both of them, honestly) in print and stage in the aftermath of the chaos. This could easily pass as just another example of the latter. “Fine.” Mueller glanced at Olivert with a scowl. “We’ll be going to see it, then. I want to see exactly how seriously people are taking this.”

“Why not just shut it down?” Olivert asked.

“Because then people will be asking questions we don’t want to give answers to. It’ll come off as suspicious-censorship makes people want to find the censored material more, if it comes from as high up as us. Not to mention it’d likely cause an international incident.” Mueller grinned, a sharp smile that put even Olivert at a sense of unease. “Right now, it’s only known as a curiosity from a newspaper fluke. So long as it flops, we don’t have to worry about a thing. It’ll die out as quickly as it came into being.”

“Oh, Mueller, your lack of confidence in my work wounds me!” Olivert lamented.

“...in your work. Sure. Let’s go with that.” Mueller shook his head. “You can’t make things easy for me and just put out an open call to not perform the play in the Liberl News, can you?”

“And rob the world of art? For shame, Mueller.” 

_It’s sure as hell gonna be something,_ Mueller thought as he left the room, _but art? That’s a lot more debatable._


	2. Something Peculiar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A surprising letter arrives at the Bright Family House.

“Mail call!” Cassius shouted from the kitchen. “Estelle, Joshua!”

“I’m coming!” Estelle shouted back, followed by a loud thud, and a clatter. Estelle’s staff came tumbling down the steps, bouncing off both the staircase and the walls before coming to a spinning stop at the bottom. A whine of pain came from upstairs-two, in unison, to be precise. “Joshua, why?”

“Estelle, I am so sorry-”

“Daaaaaaaad, Joshua attacked me with his elite assassin skills!”   
  
“Yes, my super secret technique: the door wall.”

“And now he’s making fun of me!”

Cassius let out a sigh. “Kids, could you stop trying to kill each other? Your dear papa worked so hard to keep you from hitting terminal velocity, and yet…”

The house fell silent for a moment. Then, everyone started to laugh (with the occasional “ow” from Estelle). The two Bright children shuffled down the stairs, Estelle rubbing her nose gently. “I keep telling you, Joshua,” Estelle grumbled, “I need to get a bell attached to that stupid scarf of yours.”

“I’m not THAT quiet.”

“Oh, you’re spoiling his birthday gift already?” Cassius moaned. “Oh, my daughter, how you betray me!”

Joshua frowned. “...please tell me he’s kidding.”

“You’ll find out on your birthday.”

“Estelle.”

As the two approached the table, Cassius held up a stack of letters, about as thick as a volume of The Doll Knight. “Now, now, kids. We’ve got bigger questions at hand. For example,” he continued, passing a third to Joshua and a third to Estelle, “Just how many of your friends do you write to get this much mail? We could invest in a phone, you know; I’m certain you’ve earned that much for helping save Liberl.”

Joshua began to thumb through the letters. “Too many variables. Wouldn’t know when anyone’s available, really.”

“Not to mention that half our friends are Bracers-they’re always on the road,” Estelle added as she sifted through her stack. “It’d be nice if they could make, y’know, a portable phone someday.” She snapped her fingers. “I should ask Tita to get Zeiss Central to work on that!”

“I’m sure they’ve got enough on their hands as is,” Joshua replied. “But it’s a novel idea. Maybe we can bring it up the next time we see-”

“Kloe!” Estelle exclaimed, her grin as wide as a cat’s. “We got something from Kloe, addressed to all of us!”

“My!” Cassius leaned over as Estelle tore through the envelope. “Must be something important. A royal summons perhaps?”

“No, that’d be a lot more flashy-this is from Jenis, I think.” Joshua chuckled as Estelle unfolded the letter. “Calm down, Estelle, it’s not gonna fly off.”

“I know, but we barely hear from her anymore! I wonder what’s-” She paused as three slim strips of card stock fell from the letter, landing on the table with a light thud. “Huh?”

Joshua picked up one of the strips, squinting at the tiny print. “Admit One-Row 1, Seat F. ... **_Skyward_ ** what?”

Estelle, for her part, gawked at the letter like a Creepy Sheep in orbal headlights.

Cassius reached over, tilting the letter slightly towards his line of sight.  **_“On behalf of the Jenis Academy Student Council and associated producers, we would like to invite you to a one-night only event. Details below.”_ ** Cassius scanned the page, his own grin widening. “Well, this is unexpected.”

“I can’t see,” Joshua said. “Could one of you-”

Estelle, hands wobbly, turned the letter towards her boyfriend.

Oh, boy. Something must be up if it has her...this…

**_“From the musical genius Olivier Lenheim comes his first foray into the realm of theater! When adopted siblings Josh and Stella discover their father has gone missing on a routine Bracer mission, they set out on a world-spanning search to find him. On their journey, there will be loss, there will be love, and there will be adventure beyond compare! Witness these legendary heroes blaze trails across Liberl. But will their journey end in a pulsing stride toward tomorrow, or a mourning refrain? Find out in…_ **

**_SKYWARD TRAJECTORY TOWARDS THE EMPTY MIRACLE!”_ **

“...so he’s turning our adventures...into a play.” Joshua blinked. “...is that...is that even legal?”

“Well,” Cassius began, “It’s  _ technically  _ not about Joshua and Estelle Bright-it’s about Josh and Stella. Totally different.” He turned towards his daughter. “Right, Esteeeeeelllllll-” His voice trailed off as he caught wind of Estelle’s horrified expression.

“Joshuaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.” The young Bracer heard a thud as Estelle’s head made intimate contact with the table. “This is all a joke, right? Kloe’s playing a prank on us?”

“...I’m afraid not,” Joshua muttered. “If it were, it’d be a very elaborate gag.”

“Well, I find this quite an exciting opportunity!” Cassius exclaimed. “After all, it’s not often you get to see the creative work of a prince-usually they hire people for that sort of thing.”

“He’s gonna humiliate us, I just know iiiiiiiit.” Estelle’s cries were muffled by the table.

Joshua shrugged. “Well, to be fair, like Dad said, it’s not  _ technically  _ about us…”

“Of course it isn’t!” Cassius added. “After all, Josh and Stella are common names! I’m sure made it about some other Bracer kids with a missing dad-”

Estelle’s groan grew louder.

“...if it’s any consolation,” Joshua offered, “We’ll be able to see Kloe again. We can all have a good laugh at it together. Right?”

“I guess…” Estelle sighed, lifting her head up. “It’s just...really weird to know someone wrote something about you, even if it’s not about you directly. It’s like if I made a knock-off of Stregas called Stergas or something. That’d be weird, right?”

“...Stergas,” Cassius muttered, tapping his chin. “Now there’s an idea.”

“Dad!”

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding!” Cassius pat Estelle on the back. “Look, Prince Olivert’s your friend, right?”

“...yeah, he is,” Estelle agreed.

“Then he wouldn’t write anything that wouldn’t show you at your best. Same goes for you, Joshua.” He stood up, walking over to Joshua and placing a hand on the young man’s shoulder. “I’m sure it’ll be a fun time. Plus, if you got invited, no doubt everyone else you traveled with was too. You can treat it like a bit of a reunion, before everyone gets too busy to make an actual one.”

“Not a bad point,” Joshua admitted. “Besides, he is a talented musician. Maybe that kinda talent can transfer over into playwriting too.” 

Estelle slumped her shoulders, laying her head back on the table. “Yeah, yeah. It probably won’t be that bad, but...I dunno. It would be nice to be on the other side of a Jenis play this time around.”

“That’s the spirit!” Cassius let out another laugh. “Best get to packing, then! We’ll want to be ready to go within...when is the play, actually?”

“A week from now,” Joshua confirmed.

“Well, now you have a whole week to process this, Estelle.”

Joshua couldn’t help but smile at the pained groan that burst from Estelle. He got where she was coming from, honestly, but it was just a play. A work of fiction. He probably just lifted some names, filed off some serial numbers. It would be interesting to see their journey from the outside in, right?

_...right? _


End file.
